Beating 11 other chefs for the title, Dalton impressed judges with his cold ‘Sunshine and Iodine oysters’ served with a watermelon salad and sweet and savoury dressing; and hot dish of ‘New Orleans chargrilled oysters’ topped with garlic parmesan butter, Cajun spices and hot sauce.

The panel, which included Good Food Guide editor Elizabeth Carter, Bobby Groves from Chiltern Firehouse, and restaurant critic, Joe Warwick, praised his “presentation, creativity and combination of interesting flavours.”

He said: “I’m honoured to have been crowned this year’s Best Dressed Irish Oyster champion.

“With some of the UK’s leading seafood chefs in the running, the competition was fierce, which makes the victory all the sweeter.

As well as an engraved chef’s knife, Dalston took home a trip to Ireland where he will visit an array of seafood produces. He added: “I’m fascinated by Irish oysters, so the icing on the cake will be visiting some of the country’s leading seafood producers.”

Michelle Butler, general manager at Bord Bia commented: “From Galway to Carlingford, some of the world’s finest rock and native oysters grow in Irish waters and this event is a celebration of the quality of those magnificent molluscs and the talent of shuckers and seafood chefs across the UK.

“We were truly blown away by the quantity and calibre of entries this year, so immensely well done to Conor for coming out on top.”

The full list of finalists is as below:

• Conor Dalton – Five Fields, Mayfair
• Thomas Browne – Decatur, London
• Mark Wadsworth – Riddle & Finns, Brighton
• Nathan Richardson – The Guinea Grill, Mayfai
• Doug Grigg – Oyster Shack, Devon
• Mark Taft – Assheton Arms, Lancashire
• Matthew Leivers – The Star Inn The Harbour, Yorkshire
• Karol Marciszewski – Fancy Crab, Marylebone
• Mark O’Brien – The Dairy, Clapham
• Andy Wood – Wrights Brothers, Borough
• Daniel Plumb – Oyster Shack, Devon
• Dovydas Vasiovas - Wrights Brothers, Battersea